A senior Congress worker has levelled serious allegations against party general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi on the issue of ticket distribution.
Bhadohi Congress president Neelam Mishra has alleged there was a problem in ticket distribution in the State and when requested to review, Priyanka humiliated party workers, including her in the run up to the Lok Sabha campaigns.
The matter came after Priyanka Chaturvedi quit the grand old party as its spokesman citing humiliation at the hands of State unit cadre and more precisely by the West UP General Secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia. Chaturvedi has now joined Shiv Sena.
Neelam too quit the party alleging it ignored its local leaders and workers by giving the ticket to an "outsider". "It was a big shock for us when the ticket was given to Ramakant Yadav, who is an outsider and a former BJP member. Yadav distanced himself from the party workers. We were not provided with any support, despite the fact that Yadav was given crores in funds by the party," Neelam alleged.
The party members approached Priyanka Gandhi with the matter, who in turn reportedly humiliated them."Out of anger, Priyanka Gandhi used such words that should not have been used by a national general secretary of any party, let alone by a woman while speaking to another woman," Neelam alleged.
She said that the party workers will support Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance candidate Rangnath Mishra in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, as "he is a local".
Following Neelam's resignation, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra launched an attack on Congress, saying that the Bhadohi incident exposes the "naamdaar" (dynast) mentality of the Congress. "The result of this is that the whole working committee of the Congress in the region has given their resignation," said Patra.
"The Congress workers said that they gave their resignation after Priyanka used derogatory language. This shows the reality of Congress and exposes their
hollow claims of treating every one with love," he said. Bhadohi would vote in the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 19 alongwith Varanasi and others.